Chaos rules Indian hockey team in Malaysia

New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) Chaos continued to prevail in Indian hockey with assistant coach Ramesh Parameswaran Saturday becoming the latest to return home even as the team stumbled from one defeat to another in the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia. Parameswaran followed Joaquim Carvalho, the national coach who was designated as observer for Azlan Shah, manager R.K. Shetty and three players who all returned home after the four-nation tournament in Australia instead of flying down to Malaysia.

The new selection committee said Parameswaran did not inform them about his return.

“He did not inform us but we have learnt that dissolved Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) had appointed him as manager of the team, while officially we had sent Pargat Singh as manager after R.K. Shetty came back to India,” chief selector Aslam Sher Khan told IANS.

“Parmeswaran was the assistant coach in the original squad. But it seems he did not follow the official instruction,” he said.

After Pargat reached Malaysia Friday, Parameswaran cited “personal” reasons and left for India.

The original squad for the Azlan Shah Cup was selected by the erstwhile IHF but after the body was dissolved, the new selection committee was handed the responsibility to go through the list of players and support staff for the tournament.

“We did not make any major changes in the squad because that would have added to the confusion as the team was supposed to fly straight to Malaysia from Australia.”

Sacked IHF Chief K.P.S. Gill had said that he would not adhere to Indian Olympic Association’s decision to dissolve the body and would continue to remain in his post.

Carvalho and Shetty had cited personal reasons to come back straight from Australia and said they had informed the federation about their decision.

“It seems IHF have written to the tournament director of Azlan Shah Cup to appoint Parmeswaran as the manager after the return of Shetty,” a selector said.

The four-nation tournament in Australia and Azlan Shah Cup were back-to-back and during that period the dissolution happened which must have added to the confusion.